AUSTIN - For Willie Nelson, dealing with the Texas Legislature is no picnic. Fact is, the lawmakers told the state's best-known outlaw to hit the road again.

Concerned that the singer is a bit-too-vocal a Democrat and a tad too fond of the night life, some Republican lawmakers put up roadblocks to the initiative that would have named a stretch of a new freeway after the musician.

So on Wednesday, state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, announced that he was putting the brakes on the idea.

Barrientos had wanted to name a 49-mile stretch of Texas 130 near Austin the Willie Nelson Highway. But two GOP senators sounded a sour note.

State Sens. Steve Ogden of Bryan and Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio pointed out that Nelson has hosted numerous fund-raisers for Democrats and has a fondness for spirits distilled and smoked.